nturing to
harvest a crop. On crossing the first stream of a journey he must touch
his lips with the end of his wetted bow, wade across, drop a stone on
the far side, and then drink. If he cuts his nails, he must throw the
parings into a thicket. If he drink from a stream, and also cross it,
he must eject a mouthful of water back into the stream. He must be
particularly careful not to look his mother-in-law in the face. Hundreds
of omens by the manner of their happening may modify actions, as, on
what side of the road a woodpecker calls, or in which direction a hyena
or jackal crosses the path, how the ground hornbill flies or alights,
and the like. He must notice these things, and change his plans
according to their occurrence. If he does not notice them, they exercise
their influence just the same. This does not encourage a distrait
mental attitude. Also it goes far to explain otherwise unexplainable
visitations. Truly, as Hobley says in his unexcelled work on the
A-Kamba, "the life of a savage native is a complex matter, and he is
hedged round by all sorts of rules and prohibitions, the infringement
of which will probably cause his death, if only by the intense belief he
has in the rules which guide his life."

* Customs are not universal among the different tribes. I am
merely illustrating.

For these rules and customs he never attempts to give a reason. They
are; and that is all there is to it. A mere statement: "This is the
custom" settles the matter finally. There is no necessity, nor passing
thought even, of finding any logical cause. The matter was worked out
in the mental evolution of remote ancestors. At that time, perhaps,
insurgent and Standpatter, Conservative and Radical fought out the
questions of the day, and the Muckrakers swung by their tails and
chattered about it. Those days are all long since over. The questions
of the world are settled forever. The people have passed through the
struggles of their formative period to the ultimate highest perfection
of adjustment to material and spiritual environment of which they were
capable under the influence of their original racial force.

Parenthetically, it is now a question whether or not an added impulse
can be communicated from without. Such an impulse must (a) unsettle all
the old beliefs, (b) inspire an era of skepticism, (c) reintroduce the
old struggle of ideas between the Insurgent and the Standpatter, and
Radical and the Conservative,